Lamp



p L. S. GREENMUN 2,054,286

' LAMP Filed 06t'. s, 1955 IN VENTOR.

L60 6. firm/1771202.

Patented Sept. 15, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LAlWP Application October 3, 1933, Serial No. 691,953

4 Claims.

This invention relates as indicated to lamps, but has reference more particularly to automobile headlamps and means for controlling the forwardly directed rays from the bulb filament or other light source in such bulb so as to prevent glare and other ill efiects by causing substantially all of these rays to be properly re-directed and projected as reflected rays which lie in the main beam of the headlamp and assist in proplO erly illuminating the roadway in advance of the automobile.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an auxiliary reflector which will occupy only a small portion of the space between the bulb and lens of the headlamp, which will reflect the direct rays emanating from the light source in such a manner as to cause a minimum amount of heating of the filament and which will uniformly distribute such direct rays over a large portion of the surface of the main reflector. An-

other object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary reflector which is so disposed with reference to the light source as to effectively control substantially all of the direct rays from the lilament, and none of these rays will be lost or scattered.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims; the annexed drawing and the following description setting forth in detail a device exemplifying my invention, such disclosed device constituting however, but one of the various applications of the principles of my invention.

In said annexed drawing:

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view through a conventional type of automobile headlamp showing the auxiliary reflector employed as an attachment for the bulb and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the auxiliary reflector shown in Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, there is shown a lamp of conventional form comprising an outer casing or shell I within which is mounted a parabolic main reflector 2 having an axially disposed socket 3 within which is received the base 4 of the bulb 5. The filament 5a of the bulb is disposed at substantially the focus of the main reflector 2. The auxiliary reflector comprises a hollow sheet metal cone 6 having a highly polished interior surface 1, the cone being provided with circumferentially spaced base extensions 8 which are bent around an annular wire support 9. The support 9 is provided with integral rearwardly extending bracket arms H], which diverge as at H and are bent upwardly to provide semi-circular clamp members I2 and l3which are adapted to engage the base 4 of the bulb 5. The clamp member I2 is provided with a locking link M which is adapted to 5 engage the hook-like end [5 of the clamp member l3 to maintain the clamp members in engagement with the base of the bulb, the clamp members being capable of being locked together in this manner only after they have been drawn 10 together sufliciently by sliding the locking link IE to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The entire auxiliary reflector attachment may be removed without removing the bulb from its socket,

this being accomplished by releasing the link [4 5 from engagement with'the hook l5 and sliding the link 16 to the forward end of thebracket arms I0, whereupon the clamp members may be-spread' apart sufliciently to remove them from the base of the bulb. The attachment may likewise be ac- 20 complished in an obvious manner without removing the bulb from its socket. In previous auxiliary devices of this character it was necessary to remove the bulb from its socket before the device could be attached to or removed from the bulb. 25

It will be noted that the reflector cone 6 is disposed with its apex lying substantially in the focal axis of the main reflector, that the reflector extends rearwardly and partially encompasses the bulb 5, and that the base of the reflector lies 30 in a plane parallel with and spaced sufliciently close to the focal plane of the main reflector 2, so that none of the forwardly directed rays from the filament 5a of the bulb, that is to say, none of those rays which emanate from the source of 35 light in front of the focal plane of the main reflector, can pass directly out of the headlamp, and thus be lost or scattered. A ray R, for example, which is the foremost forwardly directed ray which can be projected in advance of the 40 focal plane of the main reflector without inter cepting the auxiliary reflector will strike the edge of the reflector. There will, therefore, be no scattered rays tending to create a hazy condition immediately in front of the automobile when driv- 45 ing in mist, fog, smoke or rain. The character of the illumination is such that the image produced on a screen by the headlamp is not distorted but substantially the same as an image produced without the auxiliary reflector. The 50 highly polished interior surface I of the auxiliary reflector is effective to cause substantially all of the aforesaid forwardly directed rays from the bulb filament to be soreflected onto the main reflector that they will be projected from the 55 effectively reflectssubstantially all of the direct rays back to the main reflector and produces no substantial heating effect in thevicinity of the bulb. The reflector is particularly useful'in eliminating glare which would normally be produced by the rays emanating from the filament in line with the focal axis of the main reflectorand also eliminates haze produced by rays which, in some lamps employing auxiliary reflectors are caused by the direct rays passing out of the headlamp beyond the base of the conical auxiliary reflector.

Thisapplication is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 589,665, filed January 29, 1932. t

I therefore particularly point out and distinctlyclaim as my invention:-- V

1. An: attachment for headlamp bulbs comprising a cone-shaped reflector, and a support there for, said support comprising a wire bent into an-- nular form and having angularly extending arms terminating-in semi-circular loop portions, one of saidxloop portions being provided with a locking linkv and the other of said'loop portions terminating in a hook-like end adapted to be releasably engaged by said locking link.

2. Anattachment for headlamp bulbs comprising a reflector and a support therefor, said support comprising a wire bent into annular Iorm intermediate its ends, arms extending from and at an angle to said annular portion, said arms being parallel and in engagement with each other for a portion of their length and parallel but spaced apart for another portion of their length, said parallel portions being joined by diverging portions of the arms, semi-circular members extending from the spaced parallel portions of the arms and adapted to engage the base of a bulb to which the reflector is attached and a link encompassing said arms and slidable therealong for causing said semi-circular members to approach each other.

3. In a headlamp ray control, a light bulb, a reflector disposed in front of the light bulb, said reflector being a hollow body of cone-shape, spaced extensions carried by the base of the cone-shaped reflector, supporting means for the reflector comprising an annulus extending around the base of the reflector and engaged by the base extensions thereon, apair of arms extending from the annu- Ins and terminating in clamping means for en gagement with the base of the bulb, and a slide for operating the clamping means. 4. In a headlamp ray control, a light bulb, a

cone-shaped reflector disposed in front of the light bulb, spaced extensions carried by the base of the cone-shaped reflector, supporting means for the reflector comprising an annulus extending around the base of the reflector and con-'- nected thereto by the extensions thereon, a. pair 

